Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-11-12
THE REV. DR.. 7ALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUNDAY
SERMON.
Subject "Forbiddcn Honey"

tOi Unjust dfe."--I Samuel xiv, 43.
The honey bee is a most ingenious architect,
Christopher Wren among insects, geome-
Ser drawing hexagons and pentagons q free
booter robbng the fields of pollen and aroma,
awondrous creature of God, whose biography,
written by Huber and Swammertlam, is an
enchantment for any lover of nature. Virgil
celebrated the bee in his fable OF Aristaaus,
and Moses, and Samuel. and David, and Solo
mon. and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and st.
john used the delicacies of bee manufacture
MS a Bible symbol A miracle of formation is
Che bee: five eyes, two tongues the outer hav-
ing sheath of protection, hair on all sides of
its tiny body to brush up the PARTICLES of
flowers; its flight so straight that all the world
knows of the bee line. The hOneycoab is
palace such as no one but God cou d plan
and the honey bee construct; its cells
sometimes dorlnitory, sometimes q store
house, and sometimes a cemetery. Til ,se
winged toilers first make eight strips of
wax, and by their antennp, which are TO
them hammer and chissl, and square and
plumb line, fashion them for use. Two
and two, these workers shape the wall.
IL an accident happen they put up but
tresses Or extra beams to remedy the dam
age When about the year 1i'6 an insect,
before unknown, in the night time attacked
the beehives all over Europe, and the mon
who owned them were in vain trying to plan
something to keep out tho invader that was
the terror of the beehives of the continent it
was found that everywhere the bees had ar
ranged for their own protection, and built
before their honeycombs an especial wall of
wax. with portfolios through which the bees
might go to and fro, but not large enough to
admit the winged combataat called the
Sphinx Atropos.
Do you know that the swarming of the boes
is divinely directed! The mother beo starts
for new home, and because OF this the other
bees of the hive get into an excitement which
raises the heat of the hive some four degrees,
and they must die unless they leave their
heated apartments. and they follow the
mother bee and alight on the branch of a
tree, and cling TO each other and hold on
until a committee of two or three have eI-
plored the region and found the hollow of a
tree or rock not far off from stream of
water, and they here set up a new COLONY
and ply their aromatic industries, and give
themselves to the manufacture of the saccha-
rine edible. But who can tell the chemistry
of that mixture of sweetness, part OF it the
very life of tho bee and part of it the life of
the fields.
Plenty of the luscious product was hang
ing in the woods of Betl-ayen during the
time of Saul and Jonathan. Their army was
in pursuit of an enemy that by Coils com
mand must be exterminated. The soldiery
were positively forbidden to stop to eat any
thing until the work was done. If they DISC
beyed they were accurseJ. Coming through
the woods they found place where the bees
had been busy, great honey mandatory.
Honey gathered in the hollow of the trees
until it had overflowed upon the ground in
great profusion OF sweetness. All the army
obeyed orders and touched it not save Jola-
than. and he not knowing the military order
about abstinence, dipped the end of stick he
had in his hand into the candle liquid and
as, yellow and brown, and tempting il glowel
on the end of the stick he put it to his mouth
and ate the honey. Judgment fell upon him,
and but for special intervention he would
have been slain. In my text Jonathan an
nOunces isawful mistake: 81 did bus taste
little honey with the end of Oh 10 that was
in my hand, and, 10, l must die" Alas what
multitudes of people in all ages have BEEN
damaged by forbidden honey, by which |
mean temptation, delicious and attractive.
but damaging and destructive
Corrupt literature, fascinating but beautiful,
comes i'll this category. Where one GOOD.
healthful book is read now there are ono
hundred made up of rhetorical trash con-
sumed with avidity. When the boy in tho
cars comes through with pile of puhlica-
tions look over the titles and notice that min.
out of every ten of the books are depicting
and injurious All the way from New York
to Chicago or New Orleans notice that Oh
Jectionable books dominate. Taste for pure
literature is poisoned by this scum OF the
publishing houses, Every book in which sin
trlumphs over virture, or in which glamor
is thrown over dissipation or which leave;
you at its last line with less rcspecG for the
marriage institution and less abhorrnnce
Tor the paramour, is depre sson
OF your own moral character. The
book bindery may he attractive and the plot
dramatic and startling, and the style of
writing sweet as the honey that Jonathan
dipped up with his rod, but your best int r
your God forbids it, and one taste of it NAV
lead to such bad results that You may have
70 say at the close OF the experiment. or Mt
the close OF misimproved lifetime: II did
Dut taste little honey with the rod that wa
in my hand, and 10, must der
HCorrupt literature is doing more to-day for
the disruption of domestic life than any other
cause Elopements, marital intriglIes. ely
correspondence, fictitious names given nj
postoftice windows, clandestine meetings in
parks, and at ferry gates, and in hotel par
Yrs, and conJugai perjuries, are among the
uamnable results. When a woman vonno
Or old, gets her head thoroughly stuffed
with tho modern novel she is in an
paillng peril. But some one will say: ssThe
heroes are so adroitly knavish, and thu ner-
sons SO bewitchinglY untrre and the tugp
u the story SO exquisite, and all the charac-
ters so enrapturing, / cannot quit them y
My brother, my sister, you can find STYLES OF
literature just as charming that will elevate
and purify and ennoble and Christianize
while they please. The devil does not own
all the honey. There is a wealth OF good
lPJphh fpiiiHlp iOTbH from our publishing
houses that leaves no excuse for the choice If
that which is debauching to body, mind an
soul. Go TO some intelligent man or woman
and ask for list of books that vii! lie
strengthening TO your mental and moral
condition. Life is SO short and your time for
Improvement so abbreviated that You can
not afford TO fill up with husks and cinders
and debris. In the intcrstices of business
that young man is reading that which will
prepare him TO be a merchant prince. and
that young woman is filling her mind with an
intel igence that will yet either make her the
chief attraction Of a good mans home or give
her an Independence of character that will
qualify her TO build her own home and main
tain 1t in n happiness that requires no aug
mentation from any Of ourrougher sex. That
young man or young woman can by the right
literary and moral Improvement Of the spare
ten minutes here or there in every day, rise
head aud shoulders in prosperity and characs
ter and influence above the loungefs who
read nothing, or read that which bedwarfs.
See all the forests Of good American litern-
ture dripping with honey. Why pick M the
honeycombs that have in them the fiery bees
which will sting you with an eternal poison
while you TASTE IL. One book may for Won or
me decide everything for this world AMI the
next. IL was turning point with mo when
in Irrplr ~,